Snap-hook.



0. BROCKIVIAN.

SNAP HOOK.

APPLlcATloN FILED MAR.9.1915` Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

coLUMBlA PLANoaR/PH o..wASH|NGTON. D. C.

osoan Baookivran, or "LoUrsvrL-Ln, KENTUCKY.'

SNAP-Hook. Y

Application filed March 9, 1915. Serial No. 13,226.

To all whom t may concern.' Y Be is known that I, OSCARYBROCKMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, vhave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Snap- Hooks; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to buckles intende especially foruse on harness and the like, and vmore particularly to those which combine a snap hook with the buckle; and the object of the same is to produce a device of this kind whose buckle end or body is adapted to receive a rope or other round harness element and whose hookend is adapted to be engaged with a ring or other similar member, the bend of the rope normally closing the throat of the hook to prevent the disengagement of said member but adapted to be drawn away from the buckle and deflected so as to permit such disengagement. The device therefore in effect becomes a snap hook and will be so described and claimed below, the round element being referred to as a rope and the member engaging the hook as a ring which might be that at the end of a bit if this device be lemployed on a bridle or the like. However, I do not wish to be limited in this respect, and therefore the following specification sets forth the preferred embodiment and use of the invention.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the entire device in use. Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3

is a perspective view of ra modification,r

viewed from the underside. Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of an amplified form of the device in which the buckle end is adapted for receiving two ropes.

' In the drawings they numeral 1 has been employed to designate a member which is to be engaged with the hook, and this member may be the ring usually employed at either extremity of a bit. If we assume that this invention is used in connection with a bridle composed mainly of rope, the numeral 2 may designate one'stretch of said rope such as the cheek line, the numeral 3 the other stretch such as that leading rearward to the reins, and the numeral 4 the bend between these stretches and by which they are integrally united aty their Ylower ends. -No

fortheV parts thus far described.

specivcation bf Lettersratent. y Patented Sept- 7, 1915;. i

vnovelty is claimed the present application Coming now to the details of the'present Y invention, the metallic member which employed to connect the rope element with the ring or other member lis madeall in one `piecc`,7 and broadly speaking, includes a buckle with which the rop'eelement is 'con-y nected and a hook which engages the member 1. Preferably I make itof such metal or give it such finish that it is weather-proof and possesses suitable features of ornamenf tation. Its body 5 is by preference flat and when in use will stand substantially yin a horizontal plane, its contour Vbeing oblong and preferably oval. Near its ends the body is pierced with round eyes 6 and 7, between which* is a cross bar 8, and therefore* the body may be said to be of frame shape with a transverse cross bar. The shank 9 yof the hook projects integrally fromy one sideof this frame at'a point 10 in line with one end of said cross bar, andextends thence. downf ward on a line about 4:5"r fromV the plane of the body. At the lower end the shank bends gently and merges at 11 into the bill 12 of the hook which underlies the shank and is spaced therefrom a suflicient distance to permit the entry of the ring 1. The shank and bill preferably diverge in a direction away from the bend which connects them, and the tip 13 ofthe bill underlies the cross bar 8 and stands some distance below it where its end joins the frame; or in other words the tip of the,v bill stands in a plane through the adjacent sides of both eyes as indicated by the dotted line V. The eXtreme end of the tipmay come to an angle as seen at 14, and its outer side is rounded as seen at 15. Otherwise all angles of this device are slightly rounded oif so there will be no eX- cessive wear on the elements or members with which it is engaged.l

In use, the rope element is given abend as at 4, one stretch 2 is passed yup through grasps the bend of the 'rope'and draws it n downward so `thatboth stretches '2 Vand 3 move downward through the eyes Gand 7; and then he moves the'lower yor bent portion of the rope element outward away from the hook as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 2, which naturally exposes a space out of which the ring 1 canpass. "The latter is engaged with the hook by a reversal of this process. The adjustment of the rope element with what mightbecalled the buckle endof this device is eifected in much the same manner, whether the member 1 be engaged with the hooklat that time or not. That is to say, the bend 4 of the rope is drawn downward so'that its stretches slip down through the eyes, and thenY instead of. drawing both stretches upward to restore them to their former positions, the operator draws upward only that stretch 2 or 3 which it is desired to lengthen-thereby of course shortening the other stretch correspondingly and causing the bend 4 to occur at a dilTerent vpoint in the rope. But always when the Vparts are restored to their working position, the .side ofy the bend will lie very near to if notv in actual contact with the tip of then hook, and therefore it' con- .r stiftutes the equivalent of the spring tongue used in popular types of snap hooks. 1f it should schappen that the rope element is new or. exceedingly stiff and the ring member quite large so that di'iiculty is experienced in passing the latter bythe deflected parts of the rope and overV the tip of the hook, the ring might be twisted slightly andthe fact that the outer side of the tip is rounded atl 15 will assist its passage.

V.The element herein 'shown as rope, might, in fact, be a strap or other eXible element as yshown in Fig. 3.r vIn that case the eyes 1G and 17 might yet beround but I'would prefer to flatten them slightly and perhaps give them4 thev ovalshape shown, their longest passthrough this throat.

diameters being-parallel with" each 'other and4 at right-angles to the Ylength of the body frame. Y As the ordinary strap is" comparatively thin, when this-device is used with 'a strap itmight benecessary to carry the tip ofthe hook up a little farther as seen in this yiew,.,and therefore the throat of the hook would. be narrowerand' the device would have to be used with a member'which could The operation would be thesame as above described, and when the device was in usethe tip of the hook vwould. stand almost if notl absolutely in contact with the edge ofthe bendV of the strap, `the same as it is elsewhere illustrated as standing against the side,

or'I might say the edgeaof the bend-of therope. In either case, however, I would have the eyes so close together Athat. thek flexible element 'must bend rather sharply Y.between yits two stretches andwhereit passes under the cross bar, for

theobvious..purpose of giving this/part of the device a cling to said element and causing 'it to serve in the nature of a friction .buckle If one'fstretch were the cheek line and the other led to the reins as above suggested, it might often be desirable to adj just the cheek line so as t0 it the bridle to 5 and cross bar 8 of the buckle are the same,

but the frame is made a little wider and its eyes a little larger so that it is adapted for receiving two ropes in case the bridle or other member which is to be 'connected'with the buckle end of the device shall have two ropes. The eye at one side'of the cross bar is elongated into two eyes 6 and 6 which need not necessarily be entirely separated fromv each other, and the eye at the other side of the cross bar is similarly elongated into two eyes 7 and 7 1f the eyes of each pair are not entirely separate, the sides of the frame will be formed with slight proiections 5 extending inward, and the cross bar 8 at its mid-length will have slight .projections S extending outward, the points of these projections being by preference slightly spaced as shown so that each double eye is in effect practically divided into two separate eyes. lThis view doesvnot illustrate 'the use of the device when so constructed,

through the opposite eye 7 g va'nd'the other f rope will similarly pass through one eye 6, will make its bend, and will then pass through the other eye 7 yBetween the two stretches of each rope and where it is bent, it will underlie the cross bar 8; and the ad- `iustment of either rope may be eifected in the manner described. The only difference would be that the rope whose stretches en: gage the'eyes 6 and 7 will serve to close the throat ofV the hook throat its'bend will have to be'loosened up and laid vover'the bend of the other rope which occupies the eyes 6 and 7 In other words, it is the rope nearest the hookwhich serves as the snap for the same, remote from the hook can be adjusted without opening' the throat of the hook at all. Manifestly this is butan vamplification of the ygeneral idea abovey describedQY y Vhat'Iclaim'is: *Y l y Y"1. A hook comprising a body inthe shape izo and the rope "if iso of a frame with a bar across it producing two eyes, a hook-shank projecting rigidly from the frame adjacent one end of said bar, and a bill leading from the outer end of said shank toward the body and terminating opposite and slightly remote from one end of said bar.

2. A hook comprising a substantially flat body in the shape of a frame with a bar across it producing two eyes, a hook-shank projecting rigidly from the frame and on a line at an angle of about 45 to the plane of said frame, and a bill leading backward from and standing beneath said shank and terminating opposite and slightly remote from said bar.

3. A hook comprising a substantiallyilat body having through it two round eyes, a hook-shank projecting rigidly from one side of the body and on a line at an angle to its plane, and a bill leading backward from the shank to a point near said body and on a Y plane passing through one side of both eyes.

4. A combined buckle and hook comprising a frame-like body with a bar across its center producing two eyes, and a hook whose shank projects obliquely from said body opposite said bar and whose bill underlies the shank and has its tip rounded off, for the purpose set forth.

5. A combined buckle and hook comprising a fiat body having a pair of eyes and a cross bar betweenthem, and a hook whose shank projects rigidly from one side of the Vbody and whose bill underlies said bar and is spaced therefrom, the tip of the bill standing in a plane through such tip and the nearest side of both eyes, for the purpose set forth. Y

6. A combined buckle and hook comprising a substantially flat body having through it a pair of double eyes separated by a cross bar and surrounded by a frame, the sides of said bar and frame having projections eX- tending toward each other so as to separate the eyes of each pair, and a hook whose shank projects rigidly from one sideof the frame opposite the end of the cross bar and the tip of whose bill stands in a plane below the frame at one end of thecross bar.

ln testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

' OSCAR BROCKMAN.

Witnesses: Y Guo. GRIFFIN,

WM. BRENZINGER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

